Belgian jihadist Abdelhamid suspected of masterminding Paris attacks

Brussels: Belgian jihadist Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected Paris attacks mastermind targeted in a French police raid today, was a schoolyard bully who had recently taunted the West from an Islamic State base in Syria.

Abaaoud, a 28-year-old from Brussels of Moroccan origin, has been linked to a series of Islamic extremist plots and recruitment efforts in Europe over the past two years and had bragged of how he had avoided arrest.

French police said two suspected jihadists were killed, including a woman who blew herself up, and five people were arrested during a shootout with police in north Paris today in an operation aimed at Abaaoud.

Abbaoud has in the past boasted of a close call he had when he passed through a European checkpoint as police studied a photo of him.

In February, Abaaoud, who was reported at one time to be in Greece, claimed responsibility for the plot against police officers and said he had joined the Islamic State group in Syria.